The Rescue of Innocence
by Vicck16
Summary: From an English assignment my first story please review. Mayella Ewell discovers her father's evil plan to kill the Finch children and decides that she must stop him if she is to save them before it is too late. But what will be the cost of her courage?
1. Chapter 1

It was a few ominous months following the trial and an unsettling feeling persisted on lingering in the atmosphere on the warm and lazy evening that it was. The sun gradually submerged into the many shallow clouds that rested on the distant, orange horizon and the leaves of the weary trees softly skimmed the dusty ground which surrounded the Ewell place. Mayella stood at what she and the rest of the Ewell family would call a window, but by others would have been considered as more of a small opening which amazingly sustained a shattered and cracked glass pane. Mayella had concealed herself from the outside since the day of the trial for reasons concerning her abrupt father. Despite winning the trial, mayella committed the horrible mistake of humiliating her father from revealing more than was necessary. Now everyone was aware of the 'going on's' between mayella and her father in the Ewell household.

As she stood gazing out of the cracked pane, a tear escaped from her faded, blackened eye and ran across her cheek which stung as the tear entered one of the wounds which was deeply engraved in her face. As she soon realised that her father would shortly arrive home, she swept the side of her face with the back of her hand and resumed cooking the scraps of food they called dinner. Eventually the sound of the children arguing and fighting filled the house as it began to get dark but there was still no sign of Mr Ewell. Mayella begun to relax at the thought of him being too drunk to come back from where ever he lurked away from home. Although just the thought of her father sent an unwelcome shudder through Mayella's fragile and bruised body. The night had swiftly passed by and Mayella attempted to send her brothers and sisters to bed. It was bad enough having to care for her seven siblings but with them being so disobedient and difficult as well, she felt even more hopeless than she already was. Her siblings looked through her as if she was invisible and ignored her most of the time. It was clear they were never concerned about her despite the fact that Mayella cared a great deal about them. Her protective instinct was clearly visible whenever her father was around the other children. After hours of trying to achieve the impossible, Mayella collapsed to her knees out of sheer tiredness.

The sound of her father's uneven footsteps outside, suddenly filled her with energy once again. Mayella shot to her feet and quickly attempted to shuffle her siblings from inside the front room. Her little sister was a moment too late as Bob Ewell stormed in drunkenly through the door frame purposely knocking the small girl violently to the floor. Mayella hurriedly attended to her younger sister whose mouth was spewing blood and escorted her out of the room. As she begun to wipe away the blood and reassure the crying girl, the sound of her father's voice forced her attention away from her. Mayella didn't want to risk anybody else getting hurt including herself. Bob Ewell was slumped in one of the few worn chairs that furnished the room. He was unshaven, dirty, drunk out of his head and sniggering harshly under his breath which unnerved Mayella greatly. Whenever her father laughed it was usually at Mayella's expense. "where's my food, girl?" was the first thing he said and after a few moments of no response Mr Ewell slowly rose his head and stared at the clearly terrified young woman who stood timidly in the corner. Mayella still unsure whether to move or not glanced at her father's meal she had prepared earlier and decided upon reluctantly passing it to him. After a few moments of sincere silence, her father burst in to a fit of laughter causing his half-chewed food to spew over his daughter. Forgetting that his plate lay on his lap, Mr Ewell rose from his seat dropping the plate and the food with it. Whilst cursing and quickly growing angry, Bob grabbed his daughters arm and viciously pushed into the spillage and told her to clean it up. Mayella scrambled amongst the residue trying her best to hold in the tears that persisted on filling her saddened hazel eyes. Cautiously rising from the cabin floor, Mayella threw the spilt food away and replaced her father's dinner with her own to avoid him becoming unnecessarily angry once again.

Mr Ewell begun to selflessly consume the second meal and when finished almost raced over to the cupboard where his frequented drink was stored. In his already inebriated state, he stumbled to the chair in the corner of the room and began drinking from the bottle swiftly. Mayella quietly resembled herself at the sink and continued with the washing up. She soon noticed the restless behaviour of her father which was rather unusual to Mayella and it was the action of her father withdrawing a knife from his pocket which concerned her deeply. Her father rose from his current position and made his way to his daughter on the other side of the room. Mayella suddenly apprehensive quickly turned to face her father, her eyes drawn to the knife in his hand. "Papa please, whatever I've done I never meant no harm, please don't hurt me" her father sniggered at her fear and replied "Stupid girl, I'm gunna get that Atticus Finch, I swear I'll get 'im even it kills me." A confused Mayella dared question her father but she was aware that he was about to commit something which she couldn't allow. "I know exactly what will hurt him the most" boasted Mr Ewell and gleefully laughed at the thought of his conspiracy. Mayella no longer needed to question her father as she was now fully aware of her fathers aim. To kill the Finch children.

The next few moments were an unforgettable blur to Mayella. She did the one thing which she had never even dreamt of attempting and that was disobeying him. Suddenly bursting into tears Mayella exclaimed, "No, no- Papa leave them alone, they aint done nothing wrong! They're just kids, please dont hurt-" The young girl was cut off by the swing of her father's fist connecting with her tear stained face which sent her stumbling uncontrollably into the wall behind her. Mr Ewell hurled his bottle at his daughter and continued to hit her until Mayella lay half conscious on the cabin floor. "As i was saying, im gunna kill them Finch kids and you aint gunna stop me girl if you know whats good for ya!" Whilst grabbing her hair, Mr Ewell dragged his daughter across the room and gave her one last vindictive kick in the side before laughing at the "pathetic excuse of a daughter" as he often reminded her. Grabbing the deadly weapon from the side, Mr Ewell casually strutted out of the house and down the lane to accomplish his devious plan, leaving his sobbing daughter alone in their cold, isolated cabin.

As the unwelcome tears streamed down the now distorted face of the young girl, Mayella remained in the same curled up position on the floor for a few, painful minutes. As she remembered what her father was about to do she shot up until the excruitiating pain sent her back down again. The blood from her bleeding lips soon filled her mouth causing Mayella to cough and splutter as she rose from the ground and an aprehensive and concerned feeling bagan to trouble Mayella as she belived one of her ribs to be broken. Trying her best to ignore the pain, the young girl stumbled to the draw which contained loose objects collected from the dump which had been deemed useful by her father. Nervously scrambling through the junk which filled the draw, Mayella chose the sharpest object she could find, half closed the draw and made her way to the front door of the cabin. As she approached the broken door, she stopped, and despite time quickly slipping away her head instictively turned to the door of the room where her siblings slept. The tears fell uncontrollably as she looked upon her younger brothers and sister and remembered that she had treated them as her own for as long as she could remember. She had done anything she possibly could to protect them through the years and what she was about to do would be one of those fateful moments. Her bitten and blood stained lips allowed her to whisper a last few words. "I know that you don't think nuffin of me, but i just want ya'll to know that you mean the world to me. And if i don't come back then you gotta promise to forget about me and start afresh. I don't wanna be remembered for the things that i done like Tom Robinson and that, and for the things Papa did to me and i don't want ya'll all livin' in the past when you can all have a future. I always wanted a future, me, but you can't have everything in this world, 'specially if your a Ewell, 'specially if ya names Mayella Ewell. Anyway i just wanted to say- i just wanted to say- goodbye." As the words escaped from her mouth, Mayella forced herself way from the sight of her siblings and remembered what she had to do. The young girl silently walked from the room, through the front door and vacated the Ewell lot, unaware that her courage to save the Finch children would lead to an early and unjustified departure from life.


	2. Chapter 2

The night was dark and still. The pagent was drawing to a close and soon Maycombs fatigued inhabitants left the public building and wearily headed for home. Mayella limped along the dirt track which separated her and the rest of the Ewells from what was known as the more civilised part of the neighbourhood. Trying to ignore her painful affliction, Mayella clutched the overused kitchen knife tightly in her right hand, drawing blood as the jagged, rusty points of the weapon pressed firmly into her palm.

The dirt road came to an abrupt end and Mayella now found herself in the central square of Maycomb. The courthouse stood defiantly alongside the modest buildings of the town, mocking Mayella as she reluctantly approached it. Painful memories of the trial sent her thoughts into turmoil and it felt as if she was reliving the odeal all over again. Mayella, distressed and guilt-stricken, and unable to forgive herself for the atrocity she had committed, collapsed to her knees and sobbed. She had been so overwhelmingly lonely that she had been oblivious to the consequences and nature of her actions against Tom. It would have been fine, she often thought, if she had'nt been caught by Papa. If only she could have revealed who the true perpetrator was that day, not that Maycomb would have cared. The inhabitants of the town had returned to their everyday lives as soon as the case was closed and Mayella Ewell was just a name from the past; a name of no consequence.

Collecting herself, Mayella rose from the sand and grit which sparsely covered the ground and attentively brushed the dirt from her blood stained dress. Unsure where to find her father, Mayella was drawn to the light from the town hall which radiated through the collection of trees that stood by the residential part of Maycomb. The reflected light from the full moon which had swallowed up the majority of the clouds in the sky, magnified the shadows of the restless trees. The sound of the leaves whispering in the wind halted Mayella in her search for her father as she suspected that his presence was near. The wind was absent, the air was calm; yet the crisp sound of autumn leaves grew louder. Two voices were approaching. Gradually two figures became visible; one was a boy, the other was dressed in a costume of some sort. She had found them. Before it was too late Mayella ran towards them, jumping out just ahead of them. Despite the look of terror and shock on the faces of the children, Mayella did not abstain from warning them of their determined fate. "Don't be scared, it's me, Mayella! Listen, you have to get out of here as quick as y'can, my Pa's gonna kill you when he finds ya! He's all riled and liquored up. There ain't no stoppin' him! I don't want him to hurt y-". A beastly looking figure charged at Mayella and threw her to the ground. It was Bob. After a pathetic struggle on Mayella's behalf, and a fall to the gorund, she was knocked unconscious. Bob Ewell's switchblade glistened in the silver light of the moon which had invaded the woods and with one swift movement, grabbed the boy by the arm and flung him to the ground. Instinctively, the young girl jumped at Bob distracting his attention from her brother. Bob's knife slashed through the poorly made and impractical costume made of wire and paper mache until the exterior of her costume had been severely mutilated. Defenseless and terrofied, the young girl cowered against the nearest tree awaiting her fate. Mayella rose from the ground and witnessing the scene in front of her, ran towards her fater. Although Bob was itoxicated, his reflexes were sharp, and upon hearing this, turned around and grabbed is daughter. "I thought i told'ja what would happen if you tried to stop me girl! Jest you wait till i get you home, I'll punish you alright!" Hesitantly, Mayella stabbed her father in the arm and almost immediately felt the warm dampness of blood pulsating out of the wound she had inflicted. So overwhelmed with shock at what she had just done, as she went to apologise, a knife plunged through her stomach, forcing her to her knees. Soon enough her flower pattened dress was soaked in fiery red blood. Her trembling hands gripped onto the rusty handle of the knife and as she looked up at her father, his countenance displayed no sign of remourse, nor regret. In fact there was no emotion at all. It was as if her existence meant nothing to him and with that Mayella slumped to the ground, limp and two young children had run off by this point and had returned to the security and civility of their home with barely a scratch to show from their horrid experience. She lay in a pool of blood and she remained there, for Mr. Ewell abandoned his revenged on the Finch children and walked on home.


End file.
